New format! 🔔

Ever thought about flying “outside” of the US? This might interest you. Today, we’re talking about Star Marianas Air. It’s a Part 135 operation out in the CNMI. They require 135 VFR minimums: 500TT 100XC 25XCN and CFI (I’m pretty sure).

But I know not all of you would consider moving, let alone that far. So we’re also starting a new sub-section today: Community Notes. ✍️

It’s just a fancy name to call the updates we’ll have on what’s currently going on in our market (and only our market).

Main source? Facebook Groups. Whatever is relevant to us low time pilots that’s trending on social media, we’ll try and cover it.

As always, we’re keeping our emails as concise as possible, with links if you want to learn more.

What’s new? 🗞️

• Well, we’re still in the hiring season for low time pilots. The past weeks, we’ve had multiple companies accepting resumes, holding interviews and making offers.

Skylens, Eagleview, Prostar (…) were all taking applications the previous few weeks. I’m pretty sure Eagleview and Skylens have now filled their roster, but ProStar is still reviewing pre-recorded interviews.

• One of us (a subscriber) got a job at American Patrols. We can argue he [absolutely] got lucky because he got applied on 7/29 and got the offer barely three weeks later, 8/12, when I know for a fact there’s hundreds of resumes with similar qualifications that have been submitted (way) before his, unanswered. Mine among those.

Max got the timing just right, and he’ll be starting September 2nd. Here’s a link to his facebook post about getting the job. 

He’s not the only subscriber who recently landed a job, we have two more (at least that I know of) that have accepted survey pilot positions. I’ll try to ask them for details later in time.

Aa far as Max is concerned though, he had his resume and cover letter done professionally prior to applying to API. Coincidence? perhaps. 

Yet, it’s important to not forget it’s mostly all about hours, but not only. Good resumes, good cover letters and good interview skills can make the difference. That’s currently what’s going with ProStar’s hiring. They received about 280 applicants. We’ve all had to submit a video interview, and they are reviewing EVERY SINGLE ONE. So for them, you may exceed all the minimums, but if you as a person do not come off as a good fit, you’re out.

When you’re competing with hundreds of others, doesn’t every detail matter?

If you’d like to learn more about who took care of Max’s stuff, check out Carolynn’s website (link) or you can directly reach out to her [email protected].

I do think it’s cool that companies seem to have their own way of running things, it gives everyone at most experience level a shot.

• Something that’s been brought up a lot by employers is the lesser quality of Part 141 grads. Here’s a post about it if you want the details (link) but essentially, a trend is emerging: pilots from 141 programs often aren’t as great (according to employers) as traditional 61 graduates. I got to talk about that with some of you already, but I don’t think I’ve shared that little “fun” fact with the entire group (you). So there you have it, just food for thought. By “great” they mean both in flying skills and attitude. As long as you’re not part of the problem, you should be fine.

I personally do not have tangible leads just yet, and I have applied to all the companies for which I have the hours (400TT). We’re in these trenches together (🤣). Gotta keep applying, it’s only over when we decide it is.

Now before we dive into today’s company, remember you too are more than welcome to share your experience, and your identity will be kept private.

Sunday Deep-dive! 🤿

“I applied to STAR at 700 hours. Emailed over a resume and heard back within a week. Sent all my applicable documents and did the “interview”. It was just HR questions asking who I was and telling me about the company.

The company pays for travel up to $900 of the flight cost. You are housed for up to 2 weeks or until training is done, and are provided transportation as well.

Training was 1 week: 3 training flights, a mock-checkride and a 135.293 checkride. Paid training as well, $400 per week.

You then complete IOE until signed off to fly solo. The company is very family oriented and all the pilots are pretty close and hangout on off days. Most of the pilots opt to live in the same apartment on Saipan.

Typical day consists of passenger flights back and forth and then some discovery flights which are just island tours for tourists in Cessna 172.

Numbers wise…

$2300 a month salary, discovery flights usually pay tips about $5-$10 per person.

Rent costs around $500 a month and pilots usually rent a car because the pilot contract is only 6 months. Another $400 expense.

Schedule is 4 days on 2 days off. You are allowed to request time off LOA (leave of absence) however it does add onto your contract. Average hours is 80-100 per month.

The island life is pretty awesome really cheap food and lots of activities to do. Basically a cheaper version of Hawaii. If you enjoy snorkeling, fishing hiking and a laid back work environment with lots of flying you will enjoy it here. It’s a bit of a culture shock at first but it grows on you.

Want the job?

My advice to pilots applying is find someone who works here and reach out for a referral. The company averages 5 applicants per day so getting your name to the front of the stack definitely helps.”

Hope today’s read was insightful. We’re sticking to a biweekly schedule for now, and to compensate, I’ll try to make each have more topics than usual. Hope it helps.

Blue skies, and, until next time! 🫡

If you want more deep dives like this, and would like to support the newsletter, here’s the best way you can do so (and it’s free…)

1️⃣ Leave a review of The Road to 1500 newsletter on our Facebook page, so people know actual pilots read & enjoy it.

The more credible the newsletter is, the easier it is for me to get people to talk about their company.